The invention relates to a composition toy of the type comprised of a main template, which can represent a human figure, and one or more secondary templates that can represent clothing items and/or complements that can be added onto the main template.
US Patents such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,010,387, 5,022,886, 2,331,776 and 2,027,352 disclose various examples of composition toys or the like in which the secondary templates are coupled to the main templates by various mechanical union means.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,987,831 does not exactly relate to a composition toy, but instead to a teaching aid including a number of figures shown in a line to which can be coupled boards or the like representing clothes. In one embodiment described in this patent, the figures and boards are attached by elements fixed to the figures and boards which attract each other magnetically (such as permanent magnets on the figures and iron elements on the boards; it describes that the magnets and iron elements can be housed in recesses and held with adhesive tape).
However, U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,573 describes a composition toy including various templates that can be magnetically coupled to each other, as they are made of either a magnetic or a ferromagnetic material.
Spanish application for Utility Model 9902740 describes a composition toy with main templates (that can represent persons) and secondary templates (that can represent clothing items) including magnetic or ferromagnetic particles so that the templates are coupled to each other by magnetic attraction.
The systems described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,573 and in the Spanish application for Utility Model 9902740 can work well as long as there is a magnetic attraction between the main and secondary templates; this is, as long as the templates simply remain adhered to each other. However, it is often not enough that the secondary templates remain magnetically adhered to the main template, as the relative position of these templates may be important. For example, when the main template represents a human figure (or the outline of a human figure, as these are essentially two-dimensional figures, with a small thickness) and the secondary template represents a clothing item it may be of interest to place the clothing item in a give position corresponding to that which the item would be in when worn by a real person. Unfortunately, the systems described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,573 and the Spanish application for Utility Model 9902740 do not provide means to maintain the secondary templates at a given position with respect to the main template; both antecedents seem to propose systems based on templates with magnetic or ferromagnetic characteristics located uniformly throughout the templates, so that once the secondary templates have been placed on the main templates it is likely that one may slide on the other.
The toy is comprised of at least one main template and at least one secondary template. The main template is provided with a first means of attraction of the secondary template and the secondary template is provided with a second means of attraction of the main template. The first means of attraction and the second means of attraction are configured in order to establish a magnetic attraction between the main template and the secondary template.
According to the invention, the first means of attraction comprise a plurality of first attraction elements located at certain points of the main template, and the second means of attraction comprise a plurality of second attraction elements located at certain points of the secondary template. These certain points of the main template and the secondary template are located such that when the secondary template is superposed on the main template, the second attraction elements are near corresponding first attraction elements. In this way, the secondary template and the main template are coupled to each other by a magnetic attraction between the first attraction elements and the second attraction elements.
These certain or specific points are important: in some of the previously described antecedents, the templates of the composition toy are made of a magnetic material or a material that can be attracted by magnets (such as iron). In this way, there is an attraction between the templates but it is not ensured in any way that one template will maintain a specific orientation or positioning with respect to the other. However, in accordance with the invention, by placing attraction elements at specific points of the templates, certain specific points of the secondary template can be attracted to specific points of the main template.
This is particularly of interest in a preferred embodiment of the invention, wherein the main template is flat or essentially flat and its outline represents that of a human figure. The toy can include one or preferably several secondary templates representing clothing items, which can also be flat or essentially flat. According to the invention, specific points of the clothing items are attracted by specific points of the human figure, so that a correct positioning is achieved of the clothing items, thereby preventing the items from being placed incorrectly or anaesthetically.
The first and/or second attraction elements must include some form of magnet, but it is not necessary for all the attraction elements to include magnets; for example, some (the first attraction elements or the second attraction elements) can include magnets while the others (the second attraction elements or the first attraction elements) can include another material that can be attracted by a magnet (such as soft iron, some types of steel, etc.). In this descriptive memory, the term xe2x80x9cmagnetxe2x80x9d refers to any material that can attract magnetically other materials such as, for example, iron.
The first attraction elements are placed inside the main template and the second attraction elements are placed inside the secondary template, so that they are not accessible directly from the outside. This means that the invention is particularly well suited for children, reducing the risk that the attraction elements are separated from the templates; in addition, this improves the appearance of the invention, as the attraction elements can be concealed under the surface of the templates.
The first attraction elements can be housed in orifices of the main template. These orifices can be non-passing, this is, they correspond to recesses in one of the faces of a base part of the template, being covered by a front part or a dorsal part of the main template. Alternately, the first attraction elements can be housed in orifices passing through one of the central parts of the main template, these orifices being covered by a front part and a dorsal part of the main template.
The second attraction elements can be housed in orifices of the secondary template. These orifices can be non-passing, this is, they correspond to recesses in one of the faces of a base part of the template, being covered by a front part or a dorsal part of the main template. Alternately, the second attraction elements can be housed in orifices passing through one of the central parts of the secondary template, these orifices being covered by a front part and a dorsal part of the main template.
The first and second attraction elements can have similar configurations, such as circular, but they do not have to be identical.
When the main template represents a human figure and/or has the outline of a human figure, the first attraction elements can be placed on points corresponding to the chest, hips and feet of said figure. For example, in the case of a female figure the first attraction elements can include two attraction elements placed in the area of the breasts, two attraction elements placed in the area of the hips or pubic area, and one attraction element placed in each of the feet. Additionally, it may be convenient to place attraction elements at the areas of the elbows and/or shoulders of the figure.
The templates can be made, for example, of plastic and/or cardboard.